LONG BEACH - The effort to bring a full service emergency room to Long Beach hit a snag Wednesday after federal officials say the South Nassau Urgent Care Center does not meet certain requirements.

Joe Calderone, spokesman for the hospital, says a backup generator is powered by natural gas and has 90 minutes of battery backup power. According to federal officials, the generator must be powered by diesel or propane backup.

"Both the state Health Department and South Nassau believe that the system that we installed is more than sufficient for this facility," says Calderone. "This is a facility that is not a full-fledged hospital, so this regulation shouldn't even apply."

Rep. Kathleen Rice (D - Garden City) called on the feds to waive the regulation Wednesday.

"This is a state-of-the-art facility. It has abided by all of New York State's regulations and the federal government should see that," she told News 12.

The facility opened its doors Wednesday as an urgent care center but cannot accept ambulances through the 911 center. Those patients would have to be taken to South Nassau's Hospital in Oceanside, which is about 5 miles away.